Utah Senate confirms Monica Diaz to juvenile bench, approves multiple gubernatorial appointments

The Utah State Senate, meeting in an extraordinary session May 19, 2021, consented to a slate of gubernatorial appointments and confirmed Monica Diaz as a judge of the Third District juvenile court.

Governor Spencer J. Cox transmitted Diaz’s nomination in a written communication citing Article VIII of the Utah Constitution and Utah Code provisions. A Senate confirmation committee reported it had heard from the nominee, questioned her, and recommended confirmation to the full Senate by a 6–0 committee vote. The Senate then approved the nomination by roll call, 27 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent.

After the floor vote President Stewart Adams invited Judge-designate Monica Diaz to address the chamber. Diaz thanked the Senate and acknowledged family members in the gallery, including her husband, Bill Perne, and her son Jackson, whom she noted was celebrating his tenth birthday. She pledged to "promote the confidence in the judiciary through the fair, diligent, and impartial application of the law." The Senate briefly resolved into a Committee of the Whole for the remarks, then returned to regular session.

Separately, the secretary read a governor’s communication listing additional appointments to state boards and commissions, including Tanner Ainge, Kira Swanson and Jerry C. Gamper to the Board of Business and Economic Development, Jerry Taylor to the Permanent Community Impact Fund Board, and Mike McHale to the Utah Commission on Uniform State Laws. The Senate voted to consent to those appointments by roll call, recording 27 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; a conflict-of-interest note about Senator McHale was entered into the record.

The Senate also considered a Department of Health nomination transmitted for immediate confirmation: Dr. Carrie Wilson, a pediatric neurologist and epileptologist at the University of Utah Hospital and an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Pediatrics. The Senate confirmed Dr. Wilson by roll call, 27 yea, 0 nay, 2 absent; Dr. Wilson participated online and was acknowledged on the chamber’s screen.

These confirmations were taken by unanimous or near-unanimous consent during the extraordinary session; the body then moved on to consider two Senate resolutions. The session record notes the formal vote tallies and that the President signed the approved measures for enrolling.